The world of selling to people in their homes has evolved from getting a paper catalog, mailing in an order, and waiting days or weeks for deliveries, to a pace where one-click ordering and same day delivery represent viable options.
The payment process used by a website may be a significant key to speeding up sales. It’s a process where the biggest names – Amazon, Visa, PayPal – have set up shop. UXmatters focused on efficiency for mobile shoppers and made a couple of observations.
Speed Up the Payment Process
First, PayPal payments conducted over mobiles in 2015 rose 56 percent. The trend suggests sites that aren’t offering PayPal as a pay method could be deterring potential sales. Also, single sign-in services like Amazon Login and Visa Checkout speed up the whole buying process. A sample company that implemented Amazon Login saw its purchase process drop from 1.3 minutes to 30 seconds.
An increasingly fast-paced society may need a nudge to go from shopper to buyer. Baymard Institute research contends cart abandonment rates average close to 69 percent. Josh Hatfield, of Hostway Services offered some ideas on combating this, like making time-limited offers to customers, and ensuring shoppers can easily note on an order their shipping address also serves as a billing address.
Clock It
Hatfield suggested a helpful site element would be a progress meter, so consumers know how long completing a purchase will take. “Make sure they know with a simple linear phase indicator, letting them see how many more pages are left before they reach a purchase confirmation.”
Speed Up Page Load
If one wonders if shoppers are really as impatient as is being suggested, online services provider Imperva puts a number to this idea. Their research found 62 percent of consumers will only wait five seconds or less for a page to load; 27 percent will give a mere three seconds before bailing.
Optimize for Mobile Shopping
Many of those shoppers will arrive via devices other than the typical desktop computer. Imperva’s recent survey found nearly 50 percent visit from multiple devices like tablets and smartphones. Keeping them happy is important. A site that’s optimized for view from modern, portable devices is necessary, as non-optimized ones risk losing a disappointed visitor forever.
